


v is for

by enemyofperfect



Category: White Collar
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Gen, No Spoilers, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemyofperfect/pseuds/enemyofperfect
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal knows Peter half suspects him.  (Contains no spoilers for anyone familiar with the show's premise.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	v is for

Neal knows Peter half suspects him. He can see it in the frowns, the distracted, baffled looks so quickly shaken away in favor of the latest case. Peter doesn't _know_ he knows it yet; the thought can't even begin to occur to him without bogging down in a thousand irrelevancies, and the crucial word has never--quite--formed itself in his mind. But a part of him knows, and has known for so long it fascinates Neal.

It's _exciting_ , to watch Peter hover on the border of understanding; no one has ever come so close before. And it's _maddening_ , to watch a man so intelligent (and there's no doubt that Peter is intelligent) stumble again and again over questions of form, when the truth in all its elegance is staring him in the face. Neal neither assists nor hinders Peter (not in this), but sometimes it is so hard. Not because his secret weighs on him (it doesn't) and not because he's afraid of discovery (the risk doesn't make it _less_ attractive), but because the simplicity of it is so beautiful, and he's had it all to himself for so long.

You see, blood was never more than a metaphor, a symbol, and Neal is a master of symbolism, as well as of manipulation and deceit. He no more drinks from people's veins than he changes form or flees sunlight--that is, not literally.

The only inalterable law of his altered existence is that he _takes_.

And taking has never been a problem for Neal.

**Author's Note:**

> Written lo these many years ago in response to [the kink meme prompt "vampire Neal"](http://collarkink.livejournal.com/516.html?thread=199172#t199172), although I was way too shy to post it at the time!


End file.
